Chufe which thou wilt, by conquest, or by league.
By him thou shalt regain, without him not,
That which alone can truly re-instal thee
In DAVID's royal feat, his true fucceffor,
Deliv'rance of thy brethren, those ten tribes
Whofe off-spring in his territory yet ferve
In HABOR, and among the MEDES difpers'd,
Ten fons of JACOB, two of JOSEPH loft
Thus long from ISRAEL; ferving, as of old
Their fathers in the land of EGYPT ferv'd,
This offer fets before thee to deliver.
These if from fervitude thou shalt restore
To their inheritance, then, nor 'till then,
Thou on the throne of DAVID in full glory,
From EGYPT to EUPHRATES, and beyond, 384
Shalt reign, and ROME or CÆSAR not need fear.
To whom our SAVIOUR answer'd thus, unmov'd.' Much oftentation vain of fleshly arm, And fragile arms, much inftrument of war, Long in preparing, foon to nothing brought, Before mine eyes thou❜aft fet; and in my ear 390 Vented much policy, and projects deep
Of enemies, of aids, battels, and leagues,
Plaufible to the world, to me worth naught.
Means I must use, thou fay'ft, prediction else
Will un-predict, and fail me of the throne:
My time, I told thee (and that time for thee
Were better fartheft off) is not yet come;
When that comes, think not thou to find me flack
On my part aught endeav'ring, or to need
Thy politick maxims, or that cumbersome
Luggage of war there fhewn me, argument
Of human weakness, rather than of strength.
My brethren, as thou call'ft them, those ten tribes
I must deliver, if I mean to reign
DAVID's true heir, and his full scepter fway 405
To juft extent over all ISRAEL's fons.
But whence to thee this zeal, where was it then
For ISRAEL, or for DAVID, or his throne,
When thou stood'st up his tempter to the pride
Of numb'ring ISRAEL, which coft the lives 410
Of threescore and ten thousand ISRAELITES
By three days peftilence? fuch was thy zeal
To ISRAEL then, the fame that now to me.
As for those captive tribes, themfelves were they
Who wrought their own captivity, fell off
From God to worship calves, and deities
Of EGYPT, BAAL next, and ASHTAROTH,
And all th'idolatries of heathen round,
Befides their other worse than heath'nish crimes;
Nor in the land of their captivity
Humbled themselves, or penitent befought
The GOD of their fore-fathers; but fo dy'd
Impenitent, and left a race behind
Like to themselves, diftinguishable searce
From Gentiles, but by circumcifion vain,
And GOD with idols in their worship join'd.
Should I of these the liberty regard,
Who freed, as to their ancient patrimony,
Un-humbled, un-repentant,. un-reform'd,
Headlong wou'd follow; and to their gods perhaps
Of BETHEL and of DAN? no, let them ferve 431
Their enemies, who ferve idols with GOD.
Yet He at length, time to himself best known,
Remembring ABRAHAM, by fome wond'rous call
May bring them back repentant and fincere, 435
And at their paffing cleave th' ASSYRIAN flood,
While to their native land with joy they haste;
As the red fea and JORDAN once He cleft,
When to the promis'd land their fathers pass'd;
To His due time and providence I leave them. 440
So fpake ISRAEL's true king; and to the fiend Made answer meet, that made void all his wiles. So fares it when with truth falfhood contends.
The end of the third book.
Erplex'd and troubled at his bad success
The Tempter flood, nor had what to reply, Discover'd in his fraud, thrown from his hope So oft, and the persuasive rhetoric
That fleek'd his tongue, and won fo much on Eve,
Şo little here, nay loft; but EVE was EVE,
This far his over-match, who felf-deceiv'd
And rafh, before-hand had no better weigh'd
The strength he was to cope with, or his own:
But as a man who had been matchless held
In cunning, over-reach'd where least he thought,
To fave his credit, and for very spight,
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